Displaced Arabs given IDs in disputed areas of Nineveh

August 9, 2018 at 3:19 pm

Bashiqa, February 2017, A campaign to rid Bashiqa of IS remnants

Farman Sadiq – Nineveh
The personal identity status of hundreds of internally displaced Arabs are to be changed to an area in the Nineveh plain area.
The families were moved to the plains in the time of former regime. They are mostly from Gayara, Shargat and some other areas of Nineveh, but never returned home since then.
A member of Nineveh Governorate Council Khalaf Hadidi told KirkukNow, “There is an agreement between the ministry of interior and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to issue IDs for Arab IDPs in the disputed areas, which are under the article 140 of the constitution.”

There is an agreement to issue IDs for Arab IDPs in the disputed areas

Article 140 prohibits any demographic change in the disputed areas until their fate is determined. As of now, both KRG and Baghdad seem to vie for control in these areas.
In one phase, all those who were moved to the disputed areas must leave to their original places, until a census takes place.
A former parliamentarian Salim Shabak told KirkukNow that the subject of issuing IDs for the Arab displaced people is approved, and called it “unconstitutional”.
He said they try to hinder the process through Nineveh Governorate Council and other channels, “Those families can return home in the south or west of Nineveh.”

Nineveh, 25 April 2017, the building of Bartella Township Council. Photo: Farman Sadiq

A memo by the minister of interior in May asks to resolve the issue of 450 Arab families in those areas, as they can’t issue ID for their children. Another memo hints at approval for moving their status and residency to their current areas.
A Kurdish member of Nineveh Governorate Council also said they try to prevent it, “If we allow this, more people will come.”

As a component from the area, we expressed discontent towards changing IDP IDs to Tal Keif, Bashiqa, and Hamdaniya

Such families would be compensated with 10m Iraqi dinars (8,000 US dollars) to return home, according to the article 140, but hundreds of families have not returned, while received the dues.
Qusai Abbas, a winning candidate for parliament in Nineveh also expressed discontent over the issue, “We as Shabak, despite our political differences, are against such a move.”
Shabak is another ethnic component of Nineveh plains.
No budget has been allocated for article 140 for years now, although the deadline of the article has already been passed.